1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to art materials and in particular to a multi-functional art material fabricated from hot glue and crayon for use as a paint on canvas and other paint receptive surfaces, as a ready-made collage medium with adhesive properties as well as color, as a medium for sculpture, relief, and other three-dimensional art forms, as a clay substitute medium for pottery and other related crafts as well as an aesthetic or invisible (color-matching) repair medium.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Art materials are normally specific to one medium, such as oil, acrylic and water color paint for paintings, and clay for three-dimensional sculpture and pottery. While each medium works well for its intended use there is usually an inflexibility in attempting to use one of the standard art mediums for mixed media works of art and many of the varied types of experimental works being explored by artists.
There have been prior art patents related to art and craft media involving heating and to creating colored glue crayons and various other somewhat related materials and methods, but none actually combine hot glue and crayons to make an art medium.
U.S. patent application No. 2002/0130122 filed Sep. 19, 2002 by Berger, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,459,073 issued Oct. 1, 2002 illustrate an improved arts and crafts hot pot. The arts and crafts hot pot is used to melt various types of materials such as thermographic resins, crayons, glue etc. The materials are used in the fabrications of various craft items. He does not talk about melting the crayons and glue together at the same time.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,385,954 issued May 28, 1968 to Rabinowitz et al, discloses an electrically heated wax melting tool for encaustic painting. This tool for melting wax for batik and encaustic painting has a palette with removable wax melting cups combined with a wax dispensing pen. The palette and pen are heated by a single heating element. Wax of various colors is melted in the cups for application by brush or swab stick. Wax is also melted in the pen and dispensed through a valved spout in a smooth even line. A modified version of the tool includes only the palette portion. The heating element in both versions comprises a conventional electric soldering iron, the handle of which is used to manipulate the wax melting tool. He talks about melting crayons, but not with glue.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,674, issued Jul. 21, 1981 to Wadden, claims a new and improved process for preparing works of art. This process for preparing a work of art includes steps of melting crayon, transferring that molten crayon to a backing member to form a background and forming a design on that background. The design is formed using a hand-held heating element to melt portions of the background and/or to transfer further molten crayon to the background. A kit containing crayons and backing members is also disclosed. She melts the crayons and uses glue in the art process, but not mixed or melted with the crayons.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,042 issued Apr. 22, 1986 to Wandroik, describes an artistic method for creating an art form including the step of permanently affixing a first substrate material to a second substrate material wherein the second substrate material is rigid relative to the first substrate material. A heat-activated transitional material is then softened with a flame and applied to an upper surface of the first substrate material wherein the transitional material has a predetermined color and is applied to the upper surface of the first substrate material with varying amounts of pressure so that the softened transitional material adheres to the upper surface of the first substrate material and solidifies thereon to a predetermined thickness and has a desired predetermined texture. The artistic method for creating an art form can further include the step of coating the solidified transitional material on the upper surface of the first substrate material with a protective material. A kit is provided for carrying out the method and includes substrate materials, crayons, and a candle. The method includes melting crayons. Glue is provided in the kit but only for gluing the paper to the board.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,165,406 issued Dec. 26, 2000 to Jang et al, indicates a freeform fabrication process and apparatus for making a colorful 3-D object. The process includes (1) operating a multiple-channel droplet deposition device for supplying and, on demand, ejecting droplets of multiple liquid compositions containing a solidifiable baseline body-building material and different colorants; (2) providing a support platform a distance from this deposition device to receive the droplets therefrom; and (3) during the droplet ejecting process, moving the deposition device and the platform relative to one another in an X-Y plane and in a Z direction orthogonal to the X-Y plane so that the droplets are deposited to form multiple layers to build a colorful 3-D object. These steps are executed under the control of a computer system by taking additional steps of (4) creating a geometry and color pattern of the object on a computer with the geometry including a plurality of color-coded segments defining the object; (5) generating programmed signals corresponding to each of the segments in a predetermined sequence; and (6) moving the deposition device and the platform relative to each other in response to these programmed signals. Preferably, the system is also operated to generate a support structure for any un-supported feature of the object. This patent mentions using a hot glue melt with a colorant, but does not mention crayons.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,136,119, issued Oct. 24, 2000 to Columbus, describes a method for adhering two surfaces by use of a polyisobutylene adhesive crayon. This invention relates to thermoplastic, pressure-sensitive solid adhesives capable of transferring an adhesive film to a substrate by friction rubbing of the adhesive on the substrate. The adhesives of this invention consist essentially of polyisobutylene, wax and optionally an adhesive promoter resin. Said ingredients are within certain proportions, molecular weights, melting points, or hardness values. This patent actually describes making a glue crayon by combining wax and a colorant and a glue base and melting them together and then cooling them in forms to create the glue crayons, but they are used like regular crayons on paper, so they do not use the hot soft material to make art and they do not combine ready-made crayons with hot glue.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,268, issued Jan. 18, 1997 to Randen, shows glue crayons comprising acrylate polymers, tackified acrylate polymers, acrylate polymers containing specific, pendent, macromeric units, acrylate polymers containing high chain length alkyl (meth)acrylate monomers, acrylate polymers containing both macromeric and high chain length alkyl groups and acrylate polymers containing crystalline additives and includes (a) an acrylate-based adhesive polymer, (b) a tackifier; (c) a crystalline additive; and (d) at leastone filler. Again these are basically colored glue sticks and they do not combine existing crayons with hot glue.
None of the prior art patents produce the desired results. What is needed is a versatile multi-functional art medium.